I know a lot of mommies out there have done this. When a child gets a scrape or cut, the first thing they do is to blow on the wound – thinking that it will also blow away the pain, but that’s is a big NO. That is not proper wound care.
Did you know the human mouth is inhabited by 500 to 1000 different types of bacteria, and 70 to 80 different types of fungi and a few viruses and parasites? At any point in time, (even after we brush our teeth) an individual's mouth may be harboring anywhere between 10 to 50 billion unfriendly bacteria. Could you have imagined that? So when you blow on a wound, what’s the chance of passing some bacteria on that wound?
So what should you do when your child injures himself and has a wound?
Wash it with running water and soap. Not just water. You see, water will just run off the wound because of the surface tension of water. An example of this would be if you placed a droplet of water on paper, it would take awhile to soak in. This is because of the surface tension of water. But, when you mix soap into the water and place that droplet onto the paper it would soak in immediately, because soap breaks down the surface tension of water allowing it to become a great way to clean wounds.
So get a washcloth and get it nice and wet and soapy. Gently scrub around the wound allowing soap to get into the wound. You can very gently wash into the wound being careful not to scrub to hard and bruise the tissue. This soapy water solution will wash out bacteria and the dirt and grass.
Cover the wound with a non stick dressing so the wound will stay moist. Letting the wound dry out will slow down the healing. Just change the dressing daily or as needed.